The University of Kent, once proudly touting itself as the ‘UK’s European University’, now appears to have abandoned its global perspective to align with the myopic ambitions of the British government. The notion that universities should drive cultural trends rather than succumb to political dictates should be self-evident. Regrettably, this has not been the case in the UK for quite some time, and the University of Kent serves as a glaring example.
No longer a European University with a campus in Brussels
Post-Brexit referendum in 2016, instead of upholding its values, the university relinquished its core identity and principles of “UK’s European University” in a misguided attempt to prevent a further decline in student numbers. However, this move did not attract more students; rather, it left the institution devoid of a distinct identity, becoming a bland, featureless entity with nothing specific to offer.
The university had a campus near Brussels, called the Brussels School of International Studies, which had run courses there since 1998. Its closure was announced in May 2023, to the distress of its 85 postgraduate students and 15 PhDs.
Joint programmes discontinued
Before that, came the review of humanities programmes which resulted in discontinuing most joint honours degrees with “small” student registrations, citing challenges in marketing and timetabling. Despite repeated requests from staff, no supporting data on the alleged hidden costs was ever provided. Consequently, the university faced a loss of students who opted to pursue their chosen joint honours degrees where these were available. This loss in income was not offset by any new initiatives: surprisingly, the university chose to forfeit income without a contingency plan.
Unsurprisingly, the disciplines most affected by this decision are now at risk of closure, as historically, many arts and humanities subjects are predominantly taken in a combined format. Without this option, students are obviously inclined to seek alternatives elsewhere. If a student can study politics with philosophy at another institution, why choose to study either of those at the University of Kent?
The decline in recruitment for the affected disciplines since 2019 underscores the correlation; certainly, it can be attributed to various external factors as well, but it’s undeniable that the decision in question significantly exacerbated the situation.
Students are the casualties
The first casualties of this plan are the students in the discontinued degrees and those who in the future won’t have access to those disciplines. This decision jeopardises the educational experience and quality of education for the affected students. It will compromise their prospects and diminish the once promising academic journey as their academic staff, grappling with the discontinuation of programmes, are thrust into a frantic search for alternative employment.
From an institutional standpoint, students play a pivotal role in shaping the university’s reputation. Their experiences shared through channels like the National Student Survey (NSS) and social media, contribute significantly to the institution’s image.
Many students will transfer
Many students will transfer to other courses, which will further impact the university finances. As experienced staff members depart and programs are concluded by inexperienced hourly-paid instructors without guidance from senior faculty, students will find themselves lacking specialised mentoring, job references, tailored opportunities, and other crucial support.
Both in the short and long term, the reputational damage will be disastrous, and it will affect recruitment by tanking the university’s position in league tables as well as its reputation nationally and abroad. Why would anyone choose to enrol at the University of Kent knowing that its executive group might arbitrarily decide to discontinue their chosen program, having already done so with many subject areas without flinching and with no considerations given to their students’ experience?
No additional resources
The institution has conveyed to the affected students that these decisions will not impact their studies, but they obviously understand that their academic journey is destined to be compromised. Meanwhile, other ‘core’ programs that are attracting sufficient enrolment but are not labelled as ‘priority and growth areas’, will not receive additional resources to address understaffing or provide necessary equipment. In essence, students opting for these programs at Kent will have less access to resources compared to alternative institutions and, thus, they will receive an inferior education.
Investment only in five growth subjects
The university plans to invest solely in its five designated ‘growth areas’ (business, computing, law, natural sciences, psychology), leaving students from discontinued programmes with access to only generic services, which they could likely find elsewhere and in better quality. The severe cuts to hitherto well-ranked humanities programmes reduce its credibility as a ‘university’ which used to mean the capacity to access in one institution all sides of knowledge. Now it will be more like a service college for students to transition into careers.
Recent cuts are just the start
Here’s another grim reality: the recent cuts are just the beginning for the university. In addition to the previously mentioned £4mn reduction in professional services by 2025-26, which will lead to more job losses in the region, the university must also confront “overstaffing” in areas deemed “core” in their Kent 2030 plan. These programmes are allowed to persist for now, but without adequate funding or marketing efforts, they will eventually fall below the predetermined threshold set by university senior data analysts. This means that they will either close or face massive staff cuts in the very near future to stave off their closure.
Why is this happening?
It is hard to understand how and why this has occurred. According to the information on the website 2021, the University of Kent had 830 staff and 18,000 students from 152 different countries. It was listed as 38 in the ranking of UK universities in the Times Higher Education newspaper. It was also listed in the top ten UK universities for history of art; social policy, social work and in the top 20 for anthropology, architecture, art and design, communication and media, German, law, linguistics and theology. It is thus somewhat surprising that anthropology, art history, religious studies and modern languages are in the list of programmes to be cut. What went wrong with student recruitment? Or with the marketing of these courses?
Has abandoning its unique selling point as ‘UK’s European University’ been a major cause of these dire cuts?
Further articles to come….
